Browse

Family Empires, Roman and Christian

$27.00

“Compelling and persuasive … Elliott refocuses our understanding of the Roman Empire and moves us beyond imaginings of jackbooted imperial storm troopers to a deeper awareness of the Romans.”—Christine Shea, Ball State University

Family Empires, Roman and Christian

Volume I of Roman Family Empires: Household, Empire, Resistance

In this first of two volumes of Roman Family Empires: Household, Empire, Resistance, Dr. Elliott examines the Roman household form as it was changing during the Augustan era. Augustus relied on his version of that family form to establish his one-man rule of the empire. Dr. Elliott lays out several forms of resistance to the Roman empire and the family model on which it was built. She closes with a reading of Paul’s letter to Philemon considering the many viewpoints in the room as the letter was read. Her reading reveals a complex negotiation of accommodation and resistance to the Roman family empire and its slave-owning households.

Susan M. (Elli) Elliott (Ph.D., Loyola University Chicago) is a writer, workshop leader, and environmental activist based in Red Lodge, Montana. She began her doctoral work after years in urban ministry in Chicago where she served a local church, directed human rights organizations, worked in grassroots economic development, and organized direct actions on local and international justice issues. She is the author of Cutting Too Close for Comfort: Paul’s Letter to the Galatians in its Anatolian Cultic Context (2003/2008).

"Compelling and persuasive … Elliott refocuses our understanding of the Roman Empire and moves us beyond imaginings of jackbooted imperial storm troopers to a deeper awareness of the Romans."—Christine Shea, Ball State University

"A fascinating and readable account of social structure of the household and the empire in antiquity …"—Joanna Dewey, Professor Emerita, Episcopal Divinity School

"A full, well-written, and original overview on a very important topic …"—Hal Taussig, Union Theological Seminary